Bonita man accused of dispensing unapproved drugs

Angelica Martinez

A Bonita man who practiced medicine without a license and was known for founding a Baja California clinic where Coretta Scott King died was arrested Thursday during his Internet radio show, the District Attorney's Office said.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said that Kurt Walter Donsbach, 73, “preyed on vulnerable patients who were looking for medical help.”

In a statement, Dumanis said Donsbach falsely identified himself as a chiropractor and a naturopathic doctor in literature and on his Web site, letstalkhealth.com, where he sold what were described as nutritional supplements.

The arrest was not related to the alternative health clinic in Rosarito where King, widow of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., died in January 2006. The clinic, which was closed twice by Mexican authorities, said at the time that King's treatment there had not begun.

Dumanis said Donsbach was charged with 11 felonies, including treating patients without a license, misbranding drugs for sale, grand theft, unlawfully dispensing drugs as a cure for cancer and falsely representing a cure for cancer.

He was booked into county jail in lieu of $1.5 million bail and was scheduled to be arraigned Friday afternoon.

If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to six years in state prison.

Dumanis said that Donsbach claimed to offer “alternative,” “natural” and “nutritional” remedies for many conditions, including cancer and arthritis.

She said that Donsbach is not licensed as a physician, chiropractor or naturopathic doctor.

In one case cited by the District Attorney's Office, Donsbach advised a patient to inject herself with “neuropeptides” to treat arthritis. FDA tests revealed that the neuropeptides contained a steroid that was not disclosed.

The patient spent thousands of dollars to inject herself for six years, leading to severe bone-density loss, Dumanis said.

In another case, Donsbach claimed to have treated pancreatic cancer successfully about 60 percent of the time and provided a patient with a supplement that contained a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug not approved by the FDA.

In Europe, marketing of the drug has been suspended because of high rates of liver failure that have led to liver transplants and deaths, Dumanis said.